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Breckinridge & Lane Campaign Documents, No. 6. 



E 440 

Copy 1 SPEECH 



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Hon. DANIEL SrDlCKINSON, 



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DELIVERED AT THE 



(I{a0|}er Jn^titiit^, Item gork, 



July 18, I860. 



WASHINGTON CITY: 

Issued by the National Democratic Executive Committee. 
1860. 



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List op Prices op Breckinridge & Lane Campaign Documents, 

No. 1. — Speeches of Hon. Humphrey Marshall and Hon. B. F. Hallett, in the 
City of Washington, on the Nomination of Breckinridge and Lane. ..!^5 per 1,000 

No. 2. — Minority Report of Gov. Stevens, showing the grounds upon which the regu- 
lar Southern Delegation were entitled to Seats in the Convention at the Front Street 
Theatre, Bahimore — Majority Platform and Letters of ^cceptaiice by Breckinridge 
and Lane. ...« price $5 per 1,000 

No. 3. — Defence of the National Democracy against the attack of Judge Douglas — Con- 
stitutional Rights of the States: — Speech of Hon. J. P. Benjamin, of Louisiana. 
DeUvered in the Senate of the United States, May 2:2, 1860 price $]0 per 1,000 

No. 4.— Speech of President Buchanan, July 9, 1860 price $5 per 1,000 

No. 6. — Speech of Daniel S. Dickinson, at the Cooper Institute, New York City, 
July 18, 1860 price $10 per 1,000 

No. 7. — Speech of Hon. B. F. Hallktt, and Minority P>,eport of Gov. Stevens. 

price $5 per 1,000 
No. 8. — Biographical Sketches of Breckinridge and Lane price $15 per 1,000 

No. 9. — Reply of Hon. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, to the Speech of Senator 

Douglas, in the U. S. Senate, May 16 and 17, 1860 price $10 per 1,000 

No. 10. — Speech of John C. Breckinridge, at Frankfort, Ky price $5 per 1,000 

No. 11. — Speech of John C. Breckinridge, on the occasion of the removal from the 
old Senate Chamber to the new price $5 per 1,000 



r 



S P» E E C 1 1 

P 

Hon. DANIEL S. DICKINSON, ^ 

At COOPER INSTITUTE, NEW YORK, July 18, i860. 



After the applause had subsided, Mr. Dickinson proceeded to address the 
meeting. He said : — 

Mr. President and my Fellow Citizens : . 

Ever-fleeting time has brought us upon another period prescribed by the 
Constitution lor the election of Chief Magistrate of this great confederacy— a popu- 
lar struggle known to no people under heaven but ourselves, and exceeding m 
interest and importance anything known in the history of governments amongst 
men, civilized or savage. 

The Democratic Party. 

Upon preceding, similar occasions, generally, it has been the good fortune of 
that great party to which you and I belong fcheers), of that party which has 
swayed the destinies of the country and shaped its policy from the days of Jeffer- 
son to the present moment, to stand united in principle and purpose and move- 
ment, like a Roman Cohort in the best period of the mistress of the world. With 
such purposes, such principles, such united energies, and such harmonious action, 
the democratic party deserved, and won the highest confidence and gratitude of 
the toiling masses — it bore aloft on its banner the sacred word equality — it plucked 
hoary-headed privilege by the beard, and arraigned error and pretension before 
the great tribunal of the people— it was radical in the reformation of abuses — it 
was conservative in the preservation of all that experience had approved — the 
constitution was its pillar and its cloud, and progress was its watchword. (Loud 
cheers.) Under its benign policy our borders extended from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific — we subdued and fertilized new territories — we civilized, educated and 
absorbed their barbarous or semi-barbarous races, and nearly trebled the number 
of free sovereign States (Cheers.) Overshadowing, monopohzing, unconstitu- 
tional federal banks and protective tariffs, those devices of craft and fraud, that 
they might subsist upon the fruits of others' labor, have, after years of conflict 
with the democracy, finally been driven from the field and exterminated, and the 
only great work left them in the present crisis is to vindicate the supremacy of the 
constitution and the equalhy of the States. Its present administration by a wise 
and foreseeing foreign and domestic policy was quietly advancing the great inter- 



est of the country in spite of the efforts of foes without and foes within, and demo- 
cracy was in the zenith of its triumphs. (Cheers). If to-day that great conserva- 
tive party of the people and the constitution, the country's safely and the patriot's 
hope, is crippled and divided — if its power is weakened, its forces scattered, its 
energies weighed down, and there are forebodings that its proud banner may fall 
trailing in the dust — let it be remembered that it is not the fault of the party or its 
principles, or of its masses, that it is thus degraded, but that it is because in an 
evil moment its management fell into the hands ot the selfish, corrupt and venal, 
who have betrayed the trusts half gained by stealth, half confided to them, and 
because in attempting to use its power to advance personal ends only, they have 
destroyed its organization, divided it into sections, and brought them into conflict 
with each other, instead of concentrating all its forces upon the enemies of the 
constitution. CLoud cheers.^ 

The Republican Party. 

This organization, with many elements of personal cleverness, bodes evil to 
the best interests of true freedom and humanity. It is founded in sectional dis- 
turbance, its aliment is prejudice and passion, its efforts calculated to array State 
against State, section against section, man against man, brother against brother — 
to destroy all kindly relations, and light up the tires of sectional discord and strife, 
to end in battles of blood. Though its managers threw overboard its great founder 
and leader. Governor Seward, because he had too plainly declared its principles, 
hoping thereby to conceal its dangerous tendencies, its true theories are belched 
by the Sumners and theCheevers, and are reduced to practice by its John Browns. 
(Great cheers.) It disturbs and embitters the social relations — it severs the holy 
ties ot religious brotherhood — it breaks the bonds of a common political faith — it 
blots out the great memories of the Revolution — it destroys commercial interests 
and the interchanges of free trade — it degrades us as a nation before the envious 
monarchs of the earth, and deprives us of our inherent power to vindicate our 
rights. It sows broadcast the terrible seeds of domestic strife and passion, that the 
people may reap in due season a harvest of ashes and desolation. 

The Democratic National Convention — Public Expectation. 

There was never a moment in the history of the democratic party, or a time 
when the masses of the people looked to the sitting of a National Convention 
with more confiding expectation, than when it was about to assemble at Charles- 
ton in April last. There was never a time when such confidence was more 
wickedly, wantonly, and shamefully betrayed — when reasonable expectations 
were so madly blasted, as in the results produced by its action. Its proceedings 
found no parallel in disgrace and degradation since the empire of the New World 
was sold at auction for money. 

The democratie party, for its steady devotion to the principles of the Constitu- 
tion, the catholicity of its creeds, for its grand radical analysis, and its just and 
lofty conservatism, had won the confidence of the masses, and wrung unwilhng 
admiration from its hereditary opponents, and all good men looked to it in this 
the evil day of our country for deliverance and safety. Its convention assembled 



at Charleston, and organized for business. A holy man, arrayed in the robes of 
his sacred office, with raised liands and fervent supplication, invokes tiie favor of 
the beneficent Being who has vouchsafed to us, as a people, so many blessings. 
The whisper of beauty is hushed in the galleries — the aged bow their gray hairs 
in sympathetic and deep devotion — levity is humbled in silence, and even lurking 
fraud is abashed, and cowers for a hiding-place. But the prayer is over, and a 
band of conspirators take possession of the assemblage, and, instead of a National 
Convention, a great huckstering bazaar is erected — a political trade-sales is 
opened — management inaugurates her slimy and repulsive court, and the office of 
Chief Magistrate of this mighty republic is put up, like the board of a public pau- 
per, at the lowest bidder. Its proceedings bear evidence of deliberate and long 
cherished design, of a combination and conspiracy to tie up minorities against 
th^m, and to leave those free who were for them, and thus attain, by fraud or 
force, a particular result, regardless of popular sentiment, or of crinsequences 
which might follow. The ruling faction had snuffed up the scent of four hun- 
dred million of spoil, and for them the administration of Douglas was expected 
to rain milk and honey, snow powdered sugar, and hail MofTi^t's Vegetable Life 
Pills. [Laughter.] Under nearly two weeks of this application of the forcing 
process, the Convention proved unequal to the emergency, and paused for 
breath — a portion of the delegations withdrew, and the residue adjourned lo Bal- 
timore for a period of some six weeks for ventilation. The public had reason 
to hope that separated from the influences which surrounded them, and no 
longer breathing the contagions they engendered, but inhaling a healthy moral 
atmosphere, they might return and discharge the duty which they had under- 
taken. But abstinence only edged their appetites, and their last state was 
worse than the first. (A voice — " That's so.") The same drilled, packed, 
machine majority met again, composed of delegates from a portion of States, 
and assumed to sit in judgment upon the rights of regular delegates from 
another portion — to punish them for some nonconformity to the majority stand- 
ard, or other delinquency — in short, to deny to sovereign democratic States the 
right to return to their seats at Baltimore, because they did not occupy them for 
the whole period of the protracted sitting at Charleston — a question belonging 
entirely to the constituency of these delegations alone, and with which the 
National Convention had no business whatsoever. And not only werf- these 
dt^legations expelled under such pretensions, but bogus delegations, made up to 
suit the convenience and necessity of the occasion, were put in th^ir places. 
(Hisses and cheers.) A decision so abhorrent to every principle ol' common 
fairness — so replete with outrage and usurpation, divided, dismemberpd, and 
broke up the Convention, as it should have done, and as every sensible mind 
saw it would do; and I commend with my whole heart the spirit, and approve 
the conduct of the President, General Cushing, who refused longer to preside 
over the tyrannous cabal, and of the delegations who, under the same President, 
re-organized, and placed in nomination Messrs. Breckinridge and Lane. The 
remaining fraction, made up chiefly of delegates from republican Stales, whose 
delegations were the authors of the great wrong, deprived of their head, and 
without a democratic body, proceeded to nominate Messrs. Douglas and Fitz- 
patrir-k, as we were informed, amidst tremendous enthusiasm. Vermont and 
other New England States, and the whole Northwest, were plecged to Mr. 



6 

Douiilas (subject, of coursp, to a slii^ht iacumbrance held by one Abraham Lin- 
coln) with (lenfening applau-^e. Some Hat boatmen descendinfr the Missi'^sippi, 
in rather a jolly mood, passed a house on the siiore where they were fiddling 
and dancin? on the piazza — the boat fell into an eddy, and once in each half 
hour passed the house again, and the boatmen swore they were fiddling and 
dancing in every house for a hundred miles on the shore of the river — while 
they had been revolving in an eddy, and had seen but one. The Douglas 
strength is estimated in the same way. 

Cause of Disruption — the Authors op it. 

Waiving all questions of the merits or demerits of Mr. Douglas as a candidate, 
his pretensions were pressed upon the Convention, sometimes under the pretence 
of a platform upon which he could stand with convenience, sometimes in the 
admission and rejection of delegates by the process of machinery and manage- 
ment, and at other times in the direct presentation of his n,ame, beyond all prece- 
dence or bounds of courtesy or reason, in a manner and in a spirit, and with a 
feeling which spoke defiance to nearly one half of the States of the Confederacy, 
when it was well known they would not acquiesce in his nomination, that they 
would not support him if nominated, and that he could not be elected without 
their votes; pressed, too, in a tone and temper, and with a dogged and obstinate 
persistence which was well calculated, if it was not intended, to break up the 
Convention, or force it into obedience to the behests of a combination. (Cheers.) 
The authors of this outrage, whom we should hold accountable, and who are 
justly and directly chargeable with it, were the ruling majority of the New York 
delegation. They held the balance of power, and madly and selfishly, and cor- 
ruptly used it for the disruption of the Democratic party, in endeavoring to force 
it up to a fixed point, to subserve their infamous schemes. They were there 
charged with high responsibilities by a patriotic and confiding constituency — in a 
crisis of unusual interest in the history of the parly and the country — they, in an 
evil moment, held in their leprous hands the destinies of a noble party and of this 
great country — they professed to be governed by honorable considerations, and to 
desire the unity and harmony and success of the Democracy. (Cheers.) They 
proclaimed, personaHy and through their accredited organs, that in their view the 
Southern Slates were entitled to name a candidate, and declared that it would be 
their first policy to second such suggestions as were made in that quarter, and 
support such candidate as should be named by, or be most acceptable to, the 
South; and with such professions and false pretenses on their lips, they went to 
Charleston. But from the moment they entered the Convention at Charleston, 
until it was finally broken up by their base conduct and worse faith at Baltimore 
— conduct -which secured them the designation of political gamblers upon the 
floor of the Convention, their every act was to oppose the wishes and resist each, 
any, and every candidate who would be acceptable to the Southern States; and, 
their every effort, in season and oul of season, by night and by day, was to force 
upon the Southern States a candidate whose creed they repudiated and con- 
demned, a candidate they had declared, in ^he most solemn form, and with 
repeated asseverations, they could not and would not support ; a candidate who 
was at open war with the Democratic Administration, who had but a single sup- 



porter in the Democratic Senate, and whose especial adherents had just aided the 
Republicans in the election oC a Speaker and Clerk of the House of Represent- 
atives, two of the most influential and comniandinir positions in the Government. 
(Cheers.) Those who ruled, and dictated to, and wielded the vote of the New 
York delegation, through the fraudulent process of a unit vote — a ruled forced 
upon a large minority of this delegation to stifle their sentiments, while small 
minorities were released from it in others to suit the purposes of the conspirators 
— will hereafter be known by the name plainly branded upon their guilty fore- 
heads at Charleston — " political gamblers" — as creatures who hang festering 
upon the lobbies of State and federal legislation, to purchase chartered privilege 
and immunity by corrupt appliances; who thrive in its foetid atmosphere, and 
swell to obese proportions, like vultures upon offal; olSee brokers, who crawl and 
cringe around the footsteps of power, and by false pretences procure themselves 
or vile tools places of official trust and emolument, that they may pack and con- 
trol caucuses and conventions at the expense of the people they defraud and 
betray, while honest men are engaged in their industrial avocations to earn their 
bread. (Loud cheers, and a voice, " Go it, old man.") Oh ! how has the once 
noble spirit of the Democracy fled from such contaminating approaches ! Rome, 
whose proud banner once waved triumphant over a conquered world, degenerated, 
in the pursuit of sensual delights, to a band of fiddlers and dancers, and the 
Democratic party of New York, founded in the spirit of JelTerson, and emulat- 
ing, for m.any years, the noble efforts of a Jackson and a Tompkins, has, in the 
hands of " political gamblers," been degraded by practices which would dishonor 
the resorts of a Peter Funk in cast-off clothing; cheating the sentiment of the 
people of the State and nation ; cheating a great and confiding party, whose prin- 
ciples they put on as a disguise, for the purposes of enabling them to cheat; 
cheating the Convention which admitted them to seals; cheating delegations who 
trusted them ; cheating everybody and everything with which they .came in con- 
tact, except Mr. Douglas, their nominee, and then lamenting, through their 
accredited organ, from day to day, that the Convention had not remained together 
so that they might finally have cheated him. They have overthrown the 
Democratic masses, but "Wo to the riders that trampled them down." Political 
gamblers! you have breathed your contagion throughout the Democratic citadel, 
and profaned and polluted its very walls- You have defiled its holy places by 
your corrupting presence; unclean beasts fold in the area of its temples; and 
filthy reptiles have inhabited the sanctuary of its gods. Its towering eagle of 
liberty has fled for a brief season, and foul ravens croak for prey and whet their 
bloody beaks and dirty talons upon its sacred altars. Political gamblers ! you 
have perpetrated your last cheat — consummated your last fraud, upon the Demo- 
cratic party, for you will never again be trusted. Henceforth you will be held 
and treated as political outlaws, and set at defiance. There is no fox so crafty but 
his hide finally goes to the hatters. You will hang upon its skirts to regain 
power, and lie m aipbush for revenge, but as an open enemy you are powerless, 
and are only dangerous to those who trust you. With parties, and especially 
cliques, who betray trusts and abuse power, as W' ith individuals, there is a day of 
reckoning and retribution, and yours is at hand. 

For time at last sets all things even, 
And if we do but watch the hour, 



There never yet was human power 

Who could evade, if unforgiven, 

The patient search and vigil long 

Of him who treasures up a wrong. — (Cheers.) 



New York Divisions — the Union at Syracuse — its Fruits 
Destroyed, etc. 

The defection of a wing of the democratic party in 1847, under cover of advo- 
cating " free soil" principles, defeated General Cass in 1848, and prostrated the 
power of the democratic party in the State and nation. While its sections were 
yet standing, or professing to stand, on principles or doctrines in direct antagonism 
to each other, there were those who advocated a coalition of sections and a divi- 
sion of spoils, for the purpose of securing patronage and of" beating the whigs." 
Regarding it as most shamefully demoralizing, I resisted it with all the force I 
could summon, and all the arguments I could command ; but the necessities of 
office-seeking patriotism were too strong for me, and under the ministrations of 
some who had received a taste of official favor, and were willing to barter princi- 
ples for place, and the acquiescence of good-natured weakness, the foul scheme 
was consummated — individuals obtained place, and the moral foundations of the 
party were shaken. From that day to the present, elements theretofore unknown 
and unheard of in the history of the party became rife, wielded by " political 
gamblers." Since then, caucuses have been run by contract, conventions have 
been packed, and the management of the party machinery has been assigned to 
its chief and assistant engineers, with as much precision and regard to minutiae 
as the running of railroad trains. When a corps of hands were wanted to falsify 
domestic history at Washington, and calumniate faithful democrats and honest 
men, they were in motion with all the alacrity of police detectives who start to 
arrest and punish, not perpetrate fraud. In short, they usually keep stationed there 
a drill-sergeant and a file of men, to serve in emergencies. When an office was 
vacant, or a job of depleting the treasury was in the market, they snuffed up the 
spoil with that keen instinct given to all birds of evil omen, and demanded it as 
t^eir lawful booty. They were "political gamblers " by trade, and pursued their 
avocation with appropriate and shameless desperation. Administrations which 
have known, or ought to have known, their bleared and blackened history, which 
knew, or should have known, their occupation, and should have shunned them 
as they would a contact with the plague, though, at lirst, regarding this clique as 

A monster of such frightful mien, 

That to be hated needs but to be seen, (Cheers.) 

have usually realized the iiumiliating illustration of the poet and 

Being once familiar with its face, 
First see, then pity, then embrace. 

Hereafter, when democrats or others abroad fail to understand what they term the 
tangled web of New York politics, let them understand that nine-tenths of the 
"tangled web " and embarrasstnent to the democratic party has arisen from abroad, 
because this same clique of " political gamblers," who make politics a business. 



have been enabled to fasten their fangs upon the party organizations at home, 
from being recognized and clothe/] with power, and place, and patronage abroad; 
and that they have been recognized and rewarded abroad, for the alleged reason 
that they had power and position at home: which power and position they gain 
by the very patronage placed in their hands by those having its dispensation. 
This enables them to drive a profitable trade in political affairs, when true demo- 
crats are prosecuting their ordinary pursuits, and looking to popular sentiment, to 
direct political affairs. This clique, and its accomplices and sympathizers, pro- 
fessed free soil doctrines until they were universally repudiated and condemned by 
the democratic party everywhere, and then, without the least inconvenience, pro- 
cessed the doctrines of the democratic party with equal zeal, and, probably, about 
equal sincerity. Though I opposed their recognition as democrats by the party 
so long as they refused to stand upon its platform, yet they were bargained in, 
and I could do so no longer when they professed and acknowledged its whole 
creed, and swore allegiance again to its principles. Many of the old free soil 
wing, I cheerfully admit, have proved to be among the most reliable and faithful 
members of the party. But I have looked upon all the movenaents of the parti- 
cular clique of whom J speak with distrust, and would gladly have seen them 
perform quarantine before landing. But they had sapped and mined the founda- 
tion of the democratic edifice so long that they knew its weak points, and having 
perfected their machinery accordingly, they were enabled to influence its move- 
ments, and to rule or ruin in party affairs, generally doing the last when they 
failed to accomplish the first. Thus they became formidable, and thus did a great 
and generous party yield to their impious demands from time to time, rather than 
to see their treacherous arms turned against the democratic encampment, while its 
hosts were engaged in a great periodical battle with its open enemies. As the 
great conflict of 1860 approached, it was obvious that New York must be the 
battle ground over the constitution, and bear a conspicuous part in the mighty 
struggle, if, indeed, her potential act did not decide it for good or for evil. In 
view of this, I early determined to countenance no divisions in the ranks, for any 
purposes under any circumstances. I knew that divisions, no matter how arising, 
would produce certain and inevitable defeat. I knew this clique of politicians had 
abated not one jot or tittle of their rule or ruin policy. I knew it was loud in its 
professions of harmony, for foreign consumption, to gull the masses, and I deter- 
mined to take it at its word — (cheers)— to discountenance all divisions; to obtain 
as fair a selection of delegates to the National Convention as possible, and to make 
a last final experimental effort for union for the sake of the Union. Events at 
Syracuse, whither I went to promote reconciliations and prevent disruptions, gave 
my voice potential influence. 1 exerted it to bring all elements into one organiza- 
tion, which should represent the Empire State, and though the effort was censured 
by some and resisted by others, and criticised by mole-eyed vision, it was substan- 
tially successful. I appealed to the masses throughout the State in popular ad- 
dresses, and the democracy responded by electing the most important portion ot 
the ticket placed in nomination. But a single delegated representation was recog- 
nized at Charleston, and if that delegation had discharged, nay, if it had not grossly 
violated its duty, the State of New York in this great contest would have been 
the surest State in the Union for the democratic nominees. When the Syracuse 
Convention of 1859 approached, I could have rtniiiined at home and permitted a 
division, which I saw was almost certain; the division would have come. New 



10 

York would have been prostrate, and I and my friends should have been charged 
with producing it, and good-natured credulity abroad would have believed the 
asseverations of those whose vocation it is to verify such falsehood. I could have 
joined others, and have ministered to the just but profitless revenges of true and 
faithful men for a long catalogue of wrongs; but I preferred to look forward for 
the benefit of all rather than backwards to gratify the just resentments of the few. 
fCheers.) I could have seconded others in some Quixotic expedition to attain 
results, to minister to far-fetched individual hopes; but each of these would have 
left New York powerless for good, and old-line democrats seemingly responsible, 
and I determined to give those who had power to rule or ruin, and a determina- 
tion suited to the occasion, undisputed power to rule, after associating with them 
all the good influence I could command. They professed to desire harmony, 
unity and conciliation. I proposed to take them at their word, without saying 
how much or how little faith I had in their professions. I saw they would have 
the power. I determined they should have, so far as I could control it, the 
responsibility also. I knew that if they fairly and faithfully represented the 
State, they would merit and receive the commendation of all good democrats, 
and that the party would be compensated in the results which would follow. 
I knew if, by treacherous schemes and gambling resorts, they betrayed their 
trust, and repeated the cheats abroad Avhich they practiced at home, they would 
expose to the world their own perfidious natures and destroy themselves forever, 
and defeat their further power for mischief at home and abroad ; and that the 
democratic parly of New York could afford unbounded compensation for a con- 
summation so devoutly to be wished. In short, I saw they would have the 
power. I meant they should have the responsibility with it, and they had both. 
The power they might have exercised so as to have given life, health and joy» 
and unquestioned success to the democratic party of the State and nation. But 
they chose to exercise it in an opposite direction, and now let them prepare for 
the responsibility Avhich they cannot escape. They have, that they might ad- 
vance the selfish purposes of a corrupt clique, with malice aforethought, wick- 
edly and wantonly committed the crime — let them stand up in the world's pil- 
lory and suffer the penalty due to falsehood, treachery, ingratitude and baseness. 
'(Cheer.*.) When 1 threw my whole soul into an effort to unite the democratic 
party of this Slate, I determined, if it was finally unsuccessful, because of the 
bad conduct of this trading combination, that I would never again make an ef- 
fort to unite the party with such rnaierial in it. That effort at union would have 
been crowned with complete succe.-^s but for them, for the ranks of the party had 
closed up, and the masses hailed a deliverance from internal division and strife, 
as a proud day in their country's history. But they have torn open again its 
wounds to subserve their own selfish schemes, and now let division be the order 
of the day until these faithless " political gamblers" are driven without the pale 
of the democratic party forever. So totally abhorred as they are, we shall sooner 
attain success without than with them, and we have proved now, to the satis- 
faction of all, how vain the attempt for a party to repose upon such rotten foun- 
dations, and hereafter their power will not be courted, nor their necessities re- 
warded by democratic administrations. No, I shall hereafter make no effort for 
union where they are to be recognized, but war upon any faction under their 
Irtacheruiis rule, and nothing but faction will follow their lead. 

Twice have I sonp:ht clan Alpine's glen 
In peace, but when I come again, 
* I come with banner, brand and bow, 

As leader seeks his mortal foe. — (Loud cheers.) 



Non-Intervention — Squatter Sovereignty. 

Much has been said upon the subjects of non-intervention and squatter sove- 
reignly, as it is termed, and there has bt^en much more said upon them than h is 
been understood by those who have said it. And it would be well for the poliii- 
cal magpies who chatter so (lippanily upon the subject, to learn their lesson b' 
fore they prate it. ("" Thai's true," and cheers.) The two principles, vvhici.' 
really have no relation to each other and are entirely different, have been strange- 
ly and unpardonably confounded; but I av ill state the true definitions of each 
separately. Non-intervention means that there should be no intervention lo ex- 
tend or prohibit slavery in the Territories, but that the people of the States and 
the Territories should be left, while a Territory, to enjoy just such rights as lo 
carrying their slaves with them wiien removing into the Territories, or exclusion 
therefrom, as it should be held by the courts belonged to them. Squatter sove- 
reignty claims tlie sovereign right of the people of a Territory to exclude the 
introduction of slavery from the Territory by hostile Territorial legi>lation, re 
gardless of the construction given to the constitution by the decisions of the 
Supreme Court. Before the Dred Scoit decision this was an open question; 
since that decision it is so no longer. The difference is plainly this : non inter- 
vention by Congres-s and qualified popular sovereignty proposed such Territorial 
legislation as should be in deference to, subject to, and in harmony with tiie de- 
cisions of the Supreme Court upon the great question. Squatter sovereignly 
defies the authority of the courts, and asserts the power of ihe Territorial legis- 
lature to exclude slavery from the Territory by law, absolutely, regardless of 
the construction given to the constitution by the court. (Cheers.) 

Mb. Dickinson's Resolution op 184T, in the Senate, and Mr. 
Calhoun's Views. 

It has been often said with truth, that I was the first to introduce the principle 
of non-intervention and qualified popular sovereignty into Congress for the 
government of the Territories. When the doctrine has been regarded with dis- 
favor it has been assigned to me; but when it has been greeted wiih popular 
applause it has had numerous claimants, it has sometimes been said, but erro- 
neously, that I was an advocate, if not the author of the doctrine of squatter 
sovereignty. I was, and am, an advocate of non-intervention with qualified 
popular sovereignty. That is, with the right of the people to legislate in har- 
mony with the constitution for their domestic government. I never was an ad- 
vocate for, or a believer in, the doctrine of squatter sovereignty, and hold it to 
be an out and out absurdity. For it makes the laws of a Territorial Legislature 
to override the Constitution of the United States. The resolutions wliich I in- 
troduced in 1847, proposing non-intervention in the (Territories and suggesting 
the principle of popuiir sovereignly in a qualified form, proposed, as shown by 
the speech which followed their introduction, that the Territorial legislation 
should keep in view such construction as should be given to the Constitution by 
the Supreme Court, and legislate in harmony with and in declaratory obedience 
to it. They were never brought to a vote, because practical measures involving 
the precise question came under consideration soon after their introduction, and 
for other reasons. (Cheers.) In 1848, Mr. Calhoun, myself, and others, were 
upon the committee charged with a bill known as the Clayton Compromise. I 
proposed, and Mr. Calhoun assented, that tiie bill should be framed upon the 
principle of non-intervention, and it was so framed and so passed the S^-naie, 
but was, near the close of the session, laid on the table in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. The onVy difference between Mr. Calhoun and myself upon the sub- 
ject, then or at any other time, was this: He proposed that the bill should recog- 
nize, in declaratory form, the right of the citizens of all the Stales to go to the 
common Territories wiih their property, slave property included, and there be 
protected. Without affirming or denying his position, I proposed, as it was an 
unsettled question, and strictly belonged to the judiciary, to leave it to be decided 



12 

bv the courts, to which he readily assented, remarkins that the South had such 
f-ntire contidenee in the position that they were wiliinir to stand upon non-inter- 
vention, and awaii a judicial construction of the consiiniiion and of thfir rights 
in the Territories. The potiition of Mr. Calhoun has since been fully vindicated 
and sustained by the Dred Scott decision. 

Compromise Measures of 1850. 

The connpromise measures of 1850 were based upon the same non-interven- 
tion idea, and while they were under discussion in the Senate of the United 
Stales, I had the liunor to state my position there in a speech upon the floor as 
follows: 

Now, sir, I wish to say, once for all, that it is not my intention, either directly or 
indirectly, to favor, by voice or vote, the extension of slavery, or the restriction of sla- 
very in the Territories, by Congress, or any interference with the subject whatever, 
Nor am I influenced in this conclusion by the local laws of the Territory in question, 
either natural or artificial, the laws of nature or the laws of man; and, for all the pur- 
poses of the present action, I will not inquire what thej' are in either respect. I will 
stand upon the true principles of non-intervention, in the broadest possible sense for 
non-intervention's sake, to uphold the fundamental principles of freedom, and for no 
other reason, and will leave the people of the Territories and of the Slates to such 
rights and privileges as are theirs under the constitution and laws of the United Stales, 
without addition to, or diminution from, such rights by the action of Congress. 

Kansas and Nebraska Bill. 

The Kansas and N<»braska bill, except in its disturbance of the Missouri line, 
contained no new principle whatever, but copied the same non intervention 
principle which had bfen recognized by Congress, and awaited the judicial con- 
struction of the Constitution. 

The Dred Scott Decision. 

After the passasfp of all these measures came the Dred Scott decision by the 
Supreme Court of the United States, pronounced after unusual labor and delib- 
eration, construing ihe Constitution, and the rights of citizens of States in the 
Territories, as Mr. Calhoun and other Southern statesmen had contended, and 
thus settling the question fort-ver, for all those who propose to abide by the Con- 
stitution and laws. The substance of the decision was this : 

The Territory acquired, is acquired by the people of the United States for their com- 
mon and equal benefit, through their agent and trustee, the federal government. Con- 
gress can exercise no power over the rights of persons, or property of a citizen in the 
Territory, which is prohibited by the Constitution. The government and the citizens, 
whenever the Territory is opened to settlement, both enter it with their lespective 
rights defined and limited by the Constitution. Congress has no right to prohibit the 
citizen of any particular Slate or Stales from making their home there, while it permits 
citizens of other States to do so. Nor has it a right to give privileges to one class of 
citizens which it refuses to another. The Territory is acquired for their equal and 
common benefit, and if open to any, it must be open to all, upon equal and the same 
terms. Every citizen has a right to take with him into the Territory any article of 
property. The Cvnstitulion of the United States recognizes slaves as property, and 
pledges the Federnl Government to protect it, and Congress cannot exercise any more 
authority over property of that description, than it may constitutionally exercise over 
properly of any other kind. The act of Congress, therefore, prohibiting a citizen of 
the United Siate.s from taking with him slaves when he removes lo the Territory in 
que.iiion to reside, is an exercise of authority over private property which is not war- 
ranted by the Constitution, and the removal of the plaintiff by his owner to that Terri- 
tory, gave him no title to freedom. 

Now, if all bad acquiesced in this decision, like good citizens ; had yielded 
willing and cheerful assent and obedience to it ns an authentic construction of 
the fundamental law, by the highest tribunal, the question oi' slavery in the Ter- 



13 

ritories would have been at rest, and the democratic party would have been on 
its way rejoicing. But every kind ot means was resorted to lo evade it. Ram 
pant aboliiionisni, more manly than its accomplices m mischief, opt-nly 
denounced it and defied it, as it is wont lo do all leaal obstacles to the cousuni 
niation of its own disiempere3 idea — demasfogi-^m inflated liiseif — fanaticism 
foamed, and trimming cowardice shrank around it, and insisted that the question 
was not decided, and all these combined together soushi to deny to the citizens 
of the slave Slates the benefits of the decision, either in theory or practice. 
(Cheers.) I repeat, the South were satisfied witli non intervention, awaiting in 
good faith the decision of tlie courts ijefore this adjudication ; since the decision, 
they would have been satisfied with non-intervention, and the acknowledgiueni 
and practical execution of it according to its fair and equitable spirit. 

TuE Objection of the South to Mr. Douglas. 

The South did not object to Mr. Douglas because of bis principles of non-interven- 
tion — nor because of his doctrines of qualified popular sovereignty in the Territo- 
ries, as is so often and so pompously alleged ; but their opposition to him arises, to 
say nothing of his unfortunate controversy with the administration, from his advo- 
cacy of what they regard as a most rank and mischievous error, the squatter sover- 
eignty heresy ; contending, as he does, as we have already seen, that nijtwithstand- 
ing the decision of the Supreme Court in the*Dred Scott case, holding that all citi- 
zens -svith their property are to be admitted there on equal terms, slave property 
included, a Territorial legislature may, by its enacted law, exclude slave property 
from the Territory — thus virtually investing a Territorial legislature with power to 
annul this provision of the Constitution as construed by the highest tribunal known 
to the law. These are the articles of creed proposed by Mr. Douglas, to which the 
South object. In the celebrated campaign debate with Mr. Lincoln, previous to the 
Dred Scott decision, in answer to certain questions proposed by Mr. Lincoln, Mr. 
Douglas answered as follows : 

The next question propounded to me by Mr. Lincoln is, — Can the people of a Ter- 
ritory, in any lawful way, against the wishes of the United States, exclude slavery 
from their limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution ? 1 answer emphat- 
ically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump in IIH- 
nois, that, in my opinion, the people of a Territory can, by lawful means, exclude 
slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution. Mr. Lincoln 
knew that I had answered that question over and over again. He heard me argue tlu; 
Nebraska bill on that principle all over the State in 1854, in 1855, and in 1856, and he 
has no excuse for pl-etending to be in doubts as to my position on that question. 

Aft«r the Dred Scott decision had been pronounced and published, Mr. Douglas 
states his position thus : 

It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract 
question, whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, 
the people have the lawful means to introduce or exclude it as they please, for that 
slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere unless it is supported by local police 
regulations. These police regulations can only be established by the local legislature : 
and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that body 
who will, by unfriendly legislation effectually prevent the introduction of it into their 
midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. 
Hence, no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court may be upon that abstract 
question, still the right of the people to make a slave Territory of a free Territory is 
perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln deems my answer 
satisfactory on that point. 

If it be true, that the Territorial Legislature can, by an act, exclude the citizen of 
a Southern State, with his slave property, from all enjojTiients of, and participation 
in the common territorial property of all the States, as is asserted by Mr. Douglas, 
the constitution and the decisions of the Supreixie Court and the rights of i)ersons 
and property there, are the playthings of a Territorial Legislature, to be put up and 
down — to be given or taken away at pleasure. (Cheers.) For these doctrines, the 
Southern States refused to accept Mr. Douglas as a canchdate, and who, had he been 



14 

with and of tliem, would have done otlierwsse. But whether the Southern Statea 
were reasc-nable or cajiriciuus in their refusal to acce^it and support Mr. Douglas, 
they bad taken their (stand deliberately, after mature consideration — their avowal 
wasbelore the country and was well uiidenstuDd ; and unless he had some pre-emtive 
right to the nomination, which is not conceded, they had a right to set him aside as 
a mere matter of choice without any reason whatever. These States held one 
hundred and twenty electoral votes, sure for the democracy with an acceptable can- 
didate, while every other Stite except those on the Pacific, were counted against us 
or doubtful, and j'et, managers of the minority and doubtful States, by artifice and 
combinations, sought, through the strangely protracted Sessions of the Conventions 
held at Cliarleston and Baltimore, to force this one candidate upon the Southern 
States, and in this persistent and insane effort, first dismembered and then adjourned 
the Couventiim at Charleston, and finally divided and broke it uji at Baltimore. It 
was ct all others an occasion when all mere individual preference should have been 
forgotten and surrendei-ed for the public good ; but it ^\'as Douglas or nothing, and 
hence the result. The Convention broken up, the party divided, and all for a can- 
didate who cannot get a single electoral vote. The democratic party under such 
rule is like the serpent in the foble, which gave up the lead for a time to the tail 
instead ol the head to })revent its clamor, and in attempting to go tail foremost it 
stuck fast, and tluis remained — the tail refusing to give up the right to go ahead. 
And thus will the democratic party remain until it sheds its tapering extremity 
which insistb on being honored with command. 

Charge of a Slave Code — The Demockatic Platform. 

For the purpose of turning attention from the weakness and absurdity of their 
own position, for the mad and selfish prostration of the Democratic party, to alarm 
the fears of the timid, .shake the knees of the weak, and administer^ to the morbid 
cravings of a lingering and dormant abolitionism, they proclaim that the national 
democracy who have placed in nomination Breckenridge and Lane, are the advocates 
of a slave code for the Territories. This ideal bantling was begotten by design upon 
ignorance, and is sup2-)orted by empty noise and brazen clamor. The platform asked 
for and insisted njjou by Southern States, was just what the Constitution entitles 
them to, as construed by the Supreme Court, and nothing more. Here it is in all 
its length and breadth, as adopted in the Convention of Democratic States which 
nominated Breckinridge and Lane. It is the same non-intervention Avhich every 
true Democrat has advocated, and gi\ing etl'ect to the decision of the Court, and 
nothing more. Let every Democrat read it with unclouded vision, and not through 
the smoked glass of incii)ient abolitionism ; let him analyze it carefully, and then 
tell us in what section or sentence or syllable this terrific slave code rejioses ; and 

'when read, and weighed and understood, let all who cannot subscribe to the great 
principles of personal and State equality there enunciated, as established and guar- 
anteed b}^ the Constitution, and anth(irized and vindicated by the decision of the 
Stijireme Court of the United States, remember tliat he has taken the first lesson in 

.abolition republicanism, and is aliead}^ on his way to that organization in his svm- 
patby with a sectional bigoted creed and narrow political belief. But here is the 
platform of Democratic principles which will speak for itself: 

Platform of the Regular National Democracy — Adopted in Conten- 
tion at Baltimore, June, 1800. 

Resolved, That the platform adopted by the democratic jKirty at Cincinnati be 
affirmed witli the following cxiilaiiatory resolutions : — 

First — That the govornnu'nt of a Territory, organized by an net of Congress, is 
provi.-iional and tcimporary, and during its existence all citizens of the United States 
have an equal right to settle with tlieir property in the Territory, witkout-tiieir rights 
either of person or property, being destroyed or injured by Congressional or Territorial 
icgisjlalion. 

Second. — That it is the duty of the federal government, in all its departments, to 
protect the rights of person and property in tlie Territories, and wherever else its con- 
stitutional authority extends. 



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15 

Third. — That when the settlers in a Territory, having an adequate population, form 
a State constitution, the right of sovereignty commences, and being consummated by 
their admission into the Union, they stand, on an equality with the people of other 
States, and a State thus organized, ought to be admitted into the Federal Union 
whether its constitution prohibits or recognizes the institution of slavery. 

Resolved, That the democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the Island of 
Cuba on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just to Spain, at the earli- 
est practicable moment. 

Resolved, That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution 
of the Fugitive Slave law, are hostile in character, subversive of the constitution and 
revolutionary in effect. 

Resolved, That the democracy of the United States recognizes it as the imperative 
duty of this government to protect the naturalized citizen in all his rights, whether at 
home or in foreign lands, to the same extent as its native born citizens. 

Whereas, One of the greatest necessities of the age, in a political, commercial, 
postal, and military point of view, is a speedy communication between the Pacific and 
Atlantic coasts ; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the national democratic party do hereby pledge themselves to use 
every means in their power to secure the passage of some bill, to the extent of their 
constitutional authority by Congress, for the construction of a Pacific Railroad from 
fhe Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean at the earliest practicable moment. 

Let us hereafter hear no more from any one professing the democratic creed, and 
pretending devotion and obedience to the constitution and laws, in denunciation of 
the Southern Democratic States, or asserting that they have either proposed or de- 
manded a shive code, or that the Convention of Democratic States which nominated 
Breckinridge and Lane have adopted one, but let all such foolish fabrications be left 
to the rantings of Sumner, and Cheever, and Giddings, and their sombre associates. 
(Cheers, laughter and hisses.) 

Democratic Nominees. 

The public and private history of our nominees constitutes their eulogy. Both 
are now, and for years have been, in high places in the government. Mr. Breckin- 
ridge is an able, intrepid and popular statesman, and General Lane has written his 
name upon his country's history with his sword. They are true friends to the con- 
stitution, and free from the expediency clap-traps of the day. They were j)laced in 
nomination by the operations of public sentiment, and not forced upon the public by 
the process of political machinery. They will carry seventeen States by acclama- 
tion, with a fair chance for others in addition. 

Regularity of Nominations. 

^', When all other expedients fail, we are reminded that the nomination of Douglas 
arkl Johnson is entitled to support over the other for its regularity ; and I have ob- 
served that certain gentlemen who were regular members of the speckled Buffalo 
Gonvy?ntion of 1848, are most emphatic in swearing allegiance to regularity. The Con- 
ventioia which made this nomination had no sign, nor show, nor shadow of regularity. 
The delegated Convention at Charleston had no power to adjourn to Baltimore — a dis- 
tance of Wndreds of miles, in another State, and nearly two months afterward. No 
siich thing\was ever contemplated ; no such i)ower or discretion was delegated even 
by the most\far-fetched unphcations. A good nomination at Baltimore would have 
been entitled to respect and support, but not on the score of regularity, for it had 
not even the seiriblance of it. 

The regular delegations for a large number of States were rejected, and bogus con- 
testants, some of them without pretense of regularity or delegated authority were 
admitted in their p\ces, wliile regular delegations from numerous other States, be- 
cause of this outrage',- withdrew, and this pretended regular Convention was a mere 
fraction of one, partly , but not wholly filled up with unauthorized persons from the 
outside. It acted in vi<;)lation of the uniform rule of democratic National Conven- 
tions, which it had itself adopted, requiring two-thirds to nominate, and then disre- 
garded it in making the nominations, for at no time, bogus delegates included, did 
the vote reach near a two-thirds vote. Its nominee for Vice-President was Mr. 
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Fitzpatrick, who declined to accept such a nominntion, nnd the regiiiarit;y of Mr. 
Johnson, who now runs as Vice-President with Mr. Duugbis, consists in the request 
of some half dozen individuals, after the adjuurnnient, that he should run — in aud 
which request, it seems, he corchallj'- united. (Cheers.) The regular President of 
the Convention, Gen. Cushing, left his chair and went away, and presided over the 
Convention which nominated Breckinridge and Lane — so that the regularity of the 
nomination of Douglas and Johnson may be siunmed up in this : that Mr. John.son 
was not and has not yet been nominated by any convention ; that Mr. Douglas was 
nominated by delegates of an irregular fractional, brpken-up Convention, \\ithout a 
head, without a democratic body, but a mere skeleton, half soft, half repubUcan 
State delegations aud a bogus tail. « 

No one pretends that the nominations of Breckinridge and Lane have the author- 
ity of a regular National Convention, according to the usages of the i^arty ; but they 
have more claim to regularity than the other. The Convention had a head in tho^ 
President of the whole Convention. It had a democratic body in the regular dele- 
gations from all the sure democratic states — a majority of the States of the Union — 
it had no bogus extremity aud it had a platform of manly principle — of liberty, 
equality and fraternity upon wliich every true democrat of the whole Union can 
stand together. The question recurs what shall we do ? Do 1 Why stand reso- 
lutely by principle, and let the storm rage on — there is sunshine beyoud the clouds 
— shun all entanglmg alliances of every name and kind. The readiest, surest, 
speediest, most honorable way to success is to repudiate all fusions, all factions, all 
patchwork, all devices, all ex})edients, all efforts to mend the break as old ladies 
mend broken crockery, with Spauldiug's prepared glue, all efforts to be upon both 
sides, and stand by our candiclates and our creed. We shall then commence to de- 
serve succass, aud if we persevere in this stem path of constitutional rectitude, we 
shall preserve our self respect, command the respect of all others, aud our efforts 
wiU be cro.wned with triumph for our party and our principles, the good influences 
of which will last when party managers and tricksters and their vile schemes are 
forgotten, or remembered only to be hated and execrated. 

Loud aud repeated cries for "O'Conor and Brady" then resounded through the 
hall. 

The President stated that Mr. O'Conor was absent from the city, and that Mr. 
Brady was not well enough to attend the meeting. 

A Voice.— That's too "bad. 

Then there were cries for "Governor Wise," "Benjamin," "Yancey" and "Ste- 



The President entreated gentlemen to come to order, as he desired to submit a 
resolution to the meeting before he should introduce the next speaker. 

Tlie following resolution was then read and agreed to : 

Resolved, That a committee of one from each Congressional district be appointed 
to call a State Convention to nominate an electoral ticket and candidates fov tlie 
coming election. ^ 

The Pbesidknt then introduced to the meeting Captain !Marriott, who, he said, 
had served with General Lane, in Mexico. (Applause.) Captain M. made a stir- 
ring speech, and was followed by Mr. A. R. Wood, who concluded the proce 
in a few well timed remarks. 



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Outside Meeting. 

A large meeting outside, composed of some eight thousand persons, was addressed 
by several distinguished gentlemen. After tlie adjournment Mr. Dickinson and Mr. 
John T. Henry were serenaded. 



Baltimore i — John Mutvltv &f Co., Printers, PublisHe''s, &rc., 182 Baltimore street. 



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